Air conditioning systems which are currently used in aircraft, in particular in passenger aircraft, comprise a plurality of ducts, such as, e.g. recirculation ducts, fresh air ducts, exhaust air ducts etc. The volumetric flow through these ducts as well as the pressure in these ducts are regulated by orifices, which are introduced into the ducts in order to set a desired flow cross section. Orifices which have a fixed flow cross section are at present used in aircraft air conditioning systems. Therefore, in order to enable different volumetric flows and/or pressures to be set in the ducts of an aircraft air conditioning system, different orifices, i.e. orifices which have different flow cross sections, must be used. As several hundred orifices are integrated into the air conditioning system of a modern passenger aircraft, the necessity of having to use different orifice types to set the desired flow and pressure conditions in the ducts of the aircraft air conditioning system leads to a high manufacturing and assembly expenditure and therefore to high costs.
The present invention is directed to the object of providing an orifice which is suitable for use in an air conditioning system, in particular an aircraft air conditioning system, and which enables the number of different orifice types used in the aircraft air conditioning system to be reduced. The present invention is also directed to the object of providing an aircraft air conditioning system equipped with an orifice of this kind.
This object is achieved by an orifice having the features mentioned below as well as by an aircraft air conditioning system having the features mentioned below.